The Tofu Adventure

Tomorrow I’m going to undertake a real cooking adventure. I will cook tofu. I mean, I loved it both times I tried it. But nobody’s been offering to feed it to me for a while, and I’m tired of stalking vegetarians with a dejected “I’m so hungry” look. Especially since they try to be nice and give me chicken.

I’m completely clueless about tofu. I’m so clueless, it took me a month actually to find it at the grocery store. I mean, what kind of a perverted mind would guess it’s hiding in the yogurt section?

Tofu is very easy to cook once you get used to preparing it! Firm tofu works great in stir fries, or lightly pan fried (very, very little oil is needed). To make it crisp up nicely, be sure to compress it first to get rid of excess water – I usually wrap it in several kitchen towels or a cheesecloth/clean washcloth, place it on a plate and then put a heavy pan on top and let it sit for 30-40 minutes to drain. Then you can cut it up and cook it. I also love silken tofu – it is great cut up in soups, or thinly slices with sesame oil and a tiny bit of soy sauce, as suggested above. It pairs really nicely with avocados, if you can get ripe ones in your area.

I’ve never been to a Chinese restaurant. I’ve been to the local Chinese buffet but it’s Chinese because the owner is. The food is very typically American. Delicious. But beyond unhealthy. So I only went twice.

I haven’t ever made tofu with sesame oil or soy sauce. What I do is I press the water out of firm tofu, cut it into cubes and aggressively season it. I would set aside some of the total salt in the dish for this as well. I do this because tofu is bland and if you use it in a stir fry you cannot stir it around much because it breaks apart.
This ensures when you bite into tofu it is seasoned instead of having seasoned everything else and bland tofu.

I make green pepper tofu which is hot and I eat that with rice, but maybe you could make it soupier (since you are trying to avoid rice.)

When I make green pepper tofu, I use lots of freshly ground pepper, red pepper flakes, chili powder and turmeric. I also use mustard seeds and freshly grated ginger but that doesn’t go right on the tofu.

I make a very good and healthy dish with tofu. I know you or N may not like all these ingredients but you can change it up as you see fit.

1) I take very firm tofu (the firmest variety) and cut it into cubes. I then toss the tofu with very finely chopped red onion and very finely chopped jalapeno. I then let the tofu rest for just a bit.

2) While tofu’s resting, I make a dressing of Thai fish sauce (can substitute in soy sauce), chili paste, brown sugar, and lots of lime juice. Again, you can play with the flavors as you see fit. The most important elements are really the fish/soy sauce and the lime.

3) Chop about 1/2 a bunch of cilantro, a good handful of basil, and a handful of mint. Again, this can be done to taste. If you only like cilantro, only add cilantro. Mix all herbs and set aside.

4) Take just a bit of olive oil (or grape seed or any healthy oil) and heat in a pan. When hot (should sizzle when water is added), add the raw tofu. When the tofu cubes are nicely browned on all sides, it’s done. Onions and jalapeno should be just barely cooked here.

5) Remove the tofu from the pan and let cool just a bit. Then add the lime juice dressing and the fresh herbs.

9)Serve the tofu with large pieces of lettuce. (You spoon the tofu mixture into the lettuce to eat.) I usually serve this with rice or thin noodles and then add the rice/noodles to the lettuce leaves along with the tofu mixture. But if you want to avoid all starches, you can just do tofu and lettuce.

(Also, the tofu can be substituted with any protein: fish, ground turkey, shrimp etc.)